One dead, two injured in Israeli air strike on Gaza

Israeli air strike on Gaza kills one, injures two

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — An Israeli air strike killed at least one Palestinian and wounded two in the northern Gaza Strip late on Tuesday, according to Palestinian medics.

They named the dead man as Abdallah al-Telbani, 22, and said he was riding in a motorised rickshaw in Jabaliya refugee camp when the attack took place. It was not immediately clear if the other casualties were riding in the vehicle with him.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the raid.

The strike took place on the third anniversary of the start of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s devastating 22-day offensive against the Hamas-ruled coastal strip and came as the militant group and its Fatah rivals sought to implement a reconciliation deal.

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Since 2007, the Palestinian territories have been politically divided into two separate territories, with the Fatah of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas largely ruling the West Bank and Hamas governing Gaza.

In May, following years of bitter rivalry, the two factions signed a unity agreement which has yet to be implemented.

The last Israeli strike on the strip was on December 11, when a Palestinian father and his daughter were wounded in a raid that apparently targeted a neighbouring building in Gaza City.

The strike followed days of rising tensions between Gaza-based militants and the Jewish state, with groups in the coastal territory lobbing a barrage of rockets into southern Israel and the Israeli military launching a series of air raids.

Two days earlier, a man and his 12-year-old son were killed and 10 civilians wounded when an Israeli airstrike hit a family home in Gaza City which was located next to a Hamas militant training ground.